Why Put Up With "Wife Approval Factor"?

Hey, I only bought $5,000.00 speakers & drive a 1984 Honda Civic!!! Really!!! Well, the speakers list for almost that (4750.00) but I paid less. I actually like driving the beater around because nobody messes with it. The wife bought a new car in '98 & is happy with it. In fact, last week she bought me a '95 Bonneville. It was my Aunt's car, so we got a deal.

Before we were married (1987) we lived together for 5 years. I had the beginnings of a decent system then (Shahinian, Luxman tube pre & Adcom 555 & MC analog) and she liked it. Nowadays, she doesn't care much for it, but if I pick up a CD she likes (Dylan, Ry Cooder, Diana Krall) or play some old favs (Traffic, Beatles) she'll have a listen. For the most part, she could care less about it, although when I brought home the VR4 gen III's, she did say they were the ugliest speakers I've ever had.

I value my marriage way more than my stereo, so if it really was a problem, I would compromise or even get rid of it, using just a headphone system. At one time my Harley was the most important thing in my life, but I've learned material things are fleeting at best.

Don't misunderstand me, I really enjoy my system & get a tremendous amount of pleasure from it, both from listening & tinkering, but if my house were to go up in flames, my first priority would be my family.

I told my live in girlfriend of 6+ years that she can pick the decor so long as it does not affect the acoustics of any room that i have a system set up in. With that in mind, i try to work with her in terms of how equipment is placed, the ergonomics of the systems, etc... I have encouraged her to take up crafts thinking that she may be able to work with me in "decorating" some of the sound absorption panels, bass traps, etc... So far, she's not been real enthusiastic, but i don't think she'll mind once she becomes more skilled at sewing, knitting, etc... I have no problem with something looking "attractive", "homey" or even "feminine" so long as it does not kill me acoustically. So far, she likes making natural wreaths the best. I guess that these could act as a random "diffuser" if properly placed : )

With all of that, the only things that she has ever really raised hell about in terms of cosmetics were my G&D UTP-1 transport and my Klipsch La Scala's. The faceplate of th G&D looks like a piece of granite. As such, she calls it "that Flintstone looking thing" : ) As to the other "eyesore" ( according to her ), she really disliked were my modified La Scala's. A few years back, i had the La Scala's as my HT mains with Heresy's as rears, etc... She ABSOLUTELY HATED those "big square boxes" in that room. As such, i took them out, moved them into the basement and built a "vintage" tube system around them. As for the HT speakers, i now have five foot tall towers in front with matching four foot tall towers for the rears. This does not bother her in the least. Go figure.... Sean
>

PS... The fact that i went from 104 dB horns up front and 96 dB horns in the rear to 87 dB dynamic drivers all the way around absolutely forced me to completely redesign my HT system. Needless to say, i had to go WAY, WAY up on power. There is NO substitute for speaker efficiency short of a few kilowatts : )

WAF depends on how much she loves you. The more she loves you the more you can get away with. You made your bed so now you have to sleep in it, so don't cry about it later.

some of you poor souls make me feel like the luckiest man alive ... hey maaaaybe I am?
I get no complaints & plenty of support; she even understands some of the technicalities & her ears are better than mine too. I really hear about it when there's something amiss with the sound.
Regarding Towers: she does wish that I'd sell off some of my surplus though; the boxes are stacked floor to ceiling & there's more than one stack. Life could certainly be worse.

Sean... I'm surprised to hear you were/are a Klipsch guy. It seems like a shrinking crowd - is it another case of classic product lines being obscured my mediocre newer stuff? Does it matter that a speaker design is forty years old? Is there really that much difference between tube amp designs of 40 years ago and today?

My wife is very easygoing -- I have Klipsch La Scala pros up front (larger bass driver, black rumble-coat and PA handles, the one-piece model) and (prettier) walnut Forte IIs up back. Rogue M120 monos up front and CJ Sonographe SA400 in the rear. The tubes bought me lots of room with my wife ; ) Now, if she could only understand why I love push-pull, while she loves triode...

That may take a while.